In recent years there has been an increasing concern of providing safe play toys for children. Most packages for children's toys contain a suggested age group, for which the toy is considered safe and suitable. Frequently, however, there are children of various age groups within a home or child care provider and toys which are suitable for an older age group may be unsafe for younger children.
Construction sets with pieces that attach to one another have been popular for many years. A construction set which has become very popular involves rigid pieces which are connected using interlocking pegs and holes. This type of construction set is suitable for children over five years old, but the precise alignment of the pieces requires more coordination than possessed by many young children. Furthermore, the individual pieces of these construction sets are often very small, posing a safety hazard for infants and toddlers, as these pieces can be placed in a mouth and swallowed.
Another type of construction set is disclosed by Savage in U.S. Pat. No. 1,620,574, wherein rigid wood building blocks are covered with a fibrous material that is coated on the outside with unvulcanized rubber so that the blocks stick to each other. Because of the rigidness of these blocks, injuries may occur if pieces are thrown or stepped on. Also, young children may have difficulty using these blocks because of their thickness and weight.
Non-rigid construction pieces have been developed with special emphasis placed on education and instruction, rather than the building of structures. Early designs used flannel or felt covered boards to which fabric pieces could be attached. Examples of this type are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,265,720 to Andree, Re. 19,238 to Burke, and 2,369,804 to Schoolfield et al. Later developed designs have used Velcro to attach pieces to a carrier. Velcro is a trademark owned by Velcro USA, for synthetic materials which adhere when pressed together. Examples of this type are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,427,390 to Manger and 4,519,781 to Boyd. The purposes of the above devices are related to teaching music, letters, colors and shapes. A characteristic of these educational instruments is that the construction pieces are attached to a board or carrier and not to each other to form a structure.
Cowen et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,027 describes an educational toy that is shaped as a cuboctahedron. The outer faces are covered with fabric of different colors and textures. Cutouts, such as letters and numerals, can be removably adhered to the fabric covered faces. There may also be an opening in the toy through which a child may touch an inner face which has a different texture than the outer face.
A chess puzzle board is disclosed by Bifulco in U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,385. The chess board consists of various puzzle pieces which when properly put together form a chess board. The black and white squares are represented by alternating hook and loop pile fastener material rather than by color. The chess pieces also have hook and loop pile fastener material on their bottoms to attach to the chess board. A base is provided into which the chess board fits and attaches by means of hook and loop pile fastener material. The puzzle pieces may alternatively be connected along their edges to form different structures. This game set is directed towards older children.
It is an object of the present invention to design a construction set which is educational, safe, fun and suitable for children of various ages.